Woman gets 4-year sentence in DUI death of Australian rugby player

Los Angeles Times staff

A 28-year-old Westchester woman will serve four years in state prison for striking and killing a retired Australian rugby player with her car while drunk, officials said.

Cara Maree Cameron, who pleaded no contest in December to vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, was drunk on Aug. 21, 2012, when she struck Gary Mara as he crossed a street in Santa Monica, prosecutors said.

Mara was with his wife and 8-year-old daughter to celebrate his 50th birthday while on vacation, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

He died after being rushed to an area hospital.

Cameron was sentenced to four years in prison Friday and must pay $100,000 in restitution to Mara’s family, the district attorney’s office said.

Mara came from a family of rugby players. His father, Bob Mara, is in the Hall of Fame of the Balmain Tigers, for whom the younger Mara made his professional debut.